The present invention was conceived of by the inventor as satisfying a need for a means to display a number of photographs in a mobile that can be easily assembled by an ordinary person, packed in a mailer, and then readily displayed by the recipient of the mailer.
The concept of a mobile for displaying photographs is, by itself, not new. U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,682, for example, shows clamps for holding the photographs, with the clamps attached to a variety of relatively long rigid supports that form the major structure of the mobile. The '682 mobile is quite elaborate, as well as relatively large and bulky, particularly in view of the elongated supports. The photographs are not in a compact arrangement, but rather are spread out and individually suspended from one of the long supports.
A mailable greeting card ornament is also known. A greeting card of this type is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,616,199. The recipient of the '199 mailer opens the envelope, grasps a hook on the ornament, and then pulls the ornament out of the mailer, whereupon it opens to a three-dimensional shape.
The '199 ornament is, of course, not a mobile. The '199 envelope must also be opened before the hook can be located and grasped to remove the ornament.
Thus, while this prior art shows a mobile made up of photographs and a fold-out greeting card ornament, it does not address the concept of a mailable mobile of photographs. More particularly, the aforementioned need for a mailable mobile that is quickly assembled, mailed and then easily removed from the mailer for immediate display remains unfulfilled.